Opening credits: The characters and events depicted in this photoplay are fictional. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Swedish-American farmer's daughter Katrin "Katie" Holstrom (Loretta Young) leaves the family farm to attend nursing school in Capitol City. Barn painter Adolph Petree (Rhys Williams), who completed a job for Katie's father, offers her a ride, then steals her money along the way. Katie, refusing to ask her family for help, goes to work as a maid for political power broker Agatha Morley (Ethel Barrymore) and her son, U.S. Representative Glenn Morley (Joseph Cotten). She impresses Agatha and her loyal butler Joseph Clancey (Charles Bickford) with her refreshing, down-to-earth common sense. Glenn is impressed with her other charms.
Unexpected problems arise when the Morleys and the other leaders of their political party have to select a replacement for a deceased congressman; they choose the unscrupulous Anders J. Finley (Art Baker). Knowing the man's true background, Katie strongly disapproves. At a public meeting to introduce Finley, Katie asks him pointed and embarrassing questions. Leaders of the opposition party are impressed and offer to back Katie in the coming election. Katie accepts and reluctantly quits her job, much to Glenn's disappointment.
When Katie's campaign gains support (with some coaching from Glenn), Finley smears her reputation by bribing Petree to claim Katie spent the night with him when he gave her a ride. Katie, distraught, runs home. When Glenn learns the truth, he follows her and proposes.
Agatha and Joseph get Finley drunk and he reveals he is a member of an extreme nativist political group and that he bribed Petree, who is hidden away at his isolated lodge, to disparage Katie's reputation. Assisted by Katie's three burly brothers (James Arness, Lex Barker, Keith Andes), Glenn retrieves Petree from his goon guards, then forces him to confess over the radio. Agatha withdraws her party's support for Finley and endorses Katie, ensuring her election. In the final scene, Glenn carries Katie across the threshold of the United States House of Representatives.
A 1947 American Black & White comedy film directed by H.C. Potter, produced by Dore Schary, screenplay by Allen Rivkin and Laura Kerr, adapted from the 1937 Finnish play "Juurakon Hulda" (1937) by Hella Wuolijoki, using the pen name Juhani Tervapää (misspelled in the film's credits as Juhni Tervataa), cinematography by Milton R. Krasner, starring Loretta Young, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Charles Bickford, Rose Hobart, Rhys Williams, Harry Davenport, Tom Powers, William Harrigan, Harry Shannon, Keith Andes, Thurston Hall, Art Baker, and Don Beddoe. First credited appearance of Lex Barker. Screen debut appearance of James Arness.
Joseph Cotten was a native of Petersburg, Virginia. He had a southern accent.
The screen rights were initially bought by David O. Selznick. He intended to make it a vehicle for Ingrid Bergman. She declined the role, however. He tried to cast either Dorothy McGuire or Sonja Henie, but eventually sold the rights to RKO Radio Pictures. Because of rumors that Joseph Cotten and Ingrid Bergman were having an affair, Bergman was replaced by Loretta Young. Initially titling their film "Katie for Congress", RKO sought the more suggestive title "The Farmer's Daughter". However, they had to buy that title from Paramount Pictures, who owned The Farmer's Daughter (1940).
The film won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Loretta Young and was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Charles Bickford. Young's Oscar win is one of the most stunning upsets in the history of the Academy Awards. It was the first time a comedy performance had garnered the award since Claudette Colbert's win for "It Happened One Night"(1934), and it was generally expected that Rosalind Russell would win for her Lavinia in the far more dramatic film version of Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra (1947), because Young is largely absent from the second half of the film, as her character, Katrin, becomes the off-screen linchpin in a complex political plot. Ironically, Young had far more screen footage in "The Bishop's Wife" (1947), released the same year, and a performance that many believe was far more worthy of the statuette.
Lux Radio Theater broadcast a sixty-minute radio adaptation of this movie in 1948 with Loretta Young and Joseph Cotten reprising their roles. In 1963, a television series based on the film was produced, starring Inger Stevens, Cathleen Nesbitt and William Windom.
This poignant story is dated, but still manages to be a fresh and charming comedy. The political satire is more restrained then what modern audiences are used to, but the topics haven't aged at all. Two parties with no obvious ideological differences engaged in partisan bickering and mudslinging while a small group of wealthy and powerful men decide who is going to run for office.